The Priest and Your Cross

I went to Holy Mass and I was crying, not for myself, but sometimes God puts in on my heart to weep for souls that are lost. 

This day I was crying very much for the lost.  After we received the Holy Eucharist, the Priests (we had two that day at St. Luke) began to pray for me. I know this because I could feel their prayers for me.   I could feel these men's beautiful hearts praying for me. Men by their nature are made to be the protector of the family.  How much more so is a Priest a protector, not just by his nature of being a man, but by being "in persona Christi" for those in his church 'family'?

I could feel these beautiful Priests hearts praying for me, praying out of a desire to protect me, to shield me from any pain as evidenced by my tears, and if that was not possible, to have God intervene so that I would no longer cry. Good and holy priests, with hearts like St. Joseph, loving, protecting those in your charge.  Yet this heart was also like our Lord's, that is their hearts were on the cross.  Not only did they wish to protect me, but they hurt in their heart for me, taking on my pain and I could feel that too. 

This is why a priest reflects Jesus crucified into the world, because of a Holy Priests love for those to whom they have been given charge of.   These good and Holy men, anointed by God to the Priesthood were willing to take on my pain so I would not continue to suffer. What love this is.

This is why a priest doesn't just carry his own cross, but out of love for you he carries a little bit of your cross too. 

Yes, No....Not Yet.

In our prayer God gives us usually only three answers when we pray.

1. Yes - your prayer is answered.

2. No. - your prayer is refused by God. 

Don't loose heart - this is not a bad thing - this is a good thing!  A no from God is a time to reflect on what you were asking for, if it was asked in the right heart.  Was it a selfish desire? If you have asked in the right mindset then know that this is your personal lesson that the will and justice of God, for the will of God and the justice of God is always perfect.  You may even never know why the answer is no.  But if you go forth and submit to the will of God then you usually find the answer for the "No" was because if He had said yes it would have diminished or cancelled a grace or gift He wished to give you later.  

3. Not yet.  God's timing is not our timing and we have to understand this, we will wait patiently for what He said He will do, we may even have to wait our lives for it, but trust me, He doesn't forget what He has promised.

These three answers that we receive in our petitions on earth also mirror the answer we shall receive when we petition God to enter Heaven.

1. Yes - "Well done my good and faithful servant."  You have fought the good fight and by your love and God's grace you have merited heaven.  You shall know the fullness of seeing our Holy God in the face to which your flesh could not while you lived!  What joy is this, how our soul will rejoice to finally receive the fullness of the love of God that it could not taste while in the flesh.  How your soul longs for this.  

2. No. - "Depart from me..." What horror is this! To know that we have failed Him to such an extend that we shall be burned by the everlasting wrath of God for all time.  As God's love that is infinite and shall be enjoyed in heaven to a degree that we cannot perceive on the earth, so too will the wrath of God burn forever for the deeds that we have done to offend God.  Many it seems are determined to enter the fire!  Yet God, out of his love and mercy may allow them to live a long time in their evil, calling them constantly to repentance.  Their pain and suffering in Hell will be of a horror that cannot be described on the earth, the first suffering is the soul knowing the eternal separation from God.  How horrible it will be to relive the times on the earth when God gave you so many chances to repent and you rejected them.  

3.  Not yet. - Although not so evil to merit heaven, you bear the stain of sins for such that you cannot be presented before the Holy God.  As God is perfect, then His will is perfect, and His justice is perfect, for no aspect of God can not be perfect.  How God loves the souls in Holy Purgatory, and although He does not wish any soul to suffer the purifying fire of Purgatory - his perfect Holy Justice DEMANDS it.  

Fight! Fight! Fight!

I hear so many people say, "Well, if you aren't getting fed at your parish - find another one." or they say, "If your priest distorts the Mass and the sacraments, then go somewhere else." I don't agree with this. If your priest is distorting the Holy Mass or the sacraments, do find a valid mass so that you can be fed, but make sure you come back to the parish where things may not just be "right" and do much prayer and penance for that Priest.  Do not abandon him.  He is precious to God, and what a great gift is given to God if he is turned back from the darkness! For at his hands how many more are touched and if he is obedient to the Magisterium, his obedience will beget good, faithful Catholics.  Pray many Rosaries for him, do penance for him, fast for him, ask God to put it in his heart to take up his Rosary again, for the Holy Rosary demolishes all heresies.  

Once I went to Holy Mass (I won't say where) and the Priest was totally dead in the eyes.  I can understand the desire to run, I wanted to run from that parish too.  But God said, "No, stay."  As God gave me an intellect, I began to wonder about this, why does He want me to stay? Then it came to me, my gift is...prayer.  I go all out when it comes to asking God for something, and He knows it.  My grandmother used to say, "Don't half ass it.", and I don't. I give it all my heart.  So as the Priest was celebrating the Holy Mass, a determination came to me, I wanted this Priest, I wanted him back, not because I knew him or loved him, but because I knew God loves him, and because I love God, I wanted Him to have His priest back.  So, I asked, begged, and pleaded for that Priest.  A couple of weeks later I went to Holy Mass, and the Priest came out and my jaw dropped.  His eyes were alive again, and such a wonderful homily! 

Abandoning these souls is what the evil one wants you to do. But I say to you that their souls are also precious to God and they are worth fighting for. If you love God, fight for them, because you know that He loves them, and if you truly do love Him you don't want to see God hurt by the loss of their souls. Fight for them! Don't give up on them. We are not only called to be perfect as God is perfect, but as faithful as He is too.

 "Be strong and steadfast; have no fear or dread of them, for it is the LORD, your God, who marches with you; he will never fail you or forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6

Free Will, Heaven and Hell

Do we ever consider the gift that God has given to us in our free will? We take it for granted, this freedom to choose or not choose the divine will for us.  For if we truly understood the freedom of will that has been given to us, and the perils within, we would tremble so much that we could hardly draw breath.  

We take it for granted that we can do what we wish, but do we truly understand that the gift of free will last only while we live on the earth? When we die, we will  have to give an account of the gift of free will and how we have or have not conformed our will to God.  This is why God sends no one to hell, exercising our free will on the earth does.  When at death our free will is sealed, stopped, we, and our will are then presented before God.  Now we are overshadowed by God's will for the judgement for it is God's will alone that determines the placing of the soul in God's kingdom.  Do not be deceived, God will give you the desires of your heart and will.  The fruits of your free will exercised on the earth will either merit you heaven or hell.   In light of the holiness of our God, whose will is perfect, whose justice is perfect, He will show us our will in the light of His good will and His perfect justice.  In this light you will be in 100% agreement of the sentence you will receive. 

This is why many are lost, many fall into hell because use of their free will that God has given them will condemn them.  What makes me tremble is that today, although I beg God to conform my will to His, this is one prayer that He will never grant.  He will never take away my free will no matter how much I beg Him too, therefore, I am in danger daily of losing my own salvation, and this makes me tremble greatly. Tremble, be fearful for your salvation daily and you will save your soul, for our God is great and perfect, and pray that when you come before the judgement seat of God that your will is close to His own will for you. 

Back to the Catacombs

In the future the Catholic church will again be despised as it was when it was beginning. The culture will rise up against the church all over the world. The Holy Mass will be outlawed and the Holy Mass and the sacraments will go underground again. The weaning out of those that will not be able to stand those times has already begun. Many will not be able to stand the pressure that the culture will bring to bear on our faith. They will just fade away quietly, but fade away they will. In many hearts is not the fortitude to stand up to what is to come as we are again attacked for our faith. What will be left is what we had in the beginning of the church, no weakness, faith as strong as iron, those who don't "believe", they KNOW. 

The remnant will not only give all they possess, but not even deny God their own blood to be shed for the faith, for they will know that if God wills, it is by shedding their blood that there is victory and many will be saved. 

Now is not the time for sweetness and light, our priests and bishops must teach and speak the truth boldly from the pulpit. This does not lack any love. Is it love to allow someone to remain in a burning house and not tell them it is on fire? Sometimes it is better to shout the danger to souls so that they avoid the fire. Why do I predict this? Because the sin of abortion is like a cancer that is eating the secular culture giving way to many things that are evil being allowed or called good. We are truly in the time when what is evil in God's eyes is called "good". This greatest sin, killing our own children will beget a hatred and a desire to bring down the still living representation of God's church on the earth, the Holy Catholic Church. The tide is turning...the waves are beginning to increase even now. We will be persecuted, we are being persecuted - but not to it's fullest extent yet. 

I beg every priest that is within the sound of my voice to hear what I say now and hold it in your heart. When the time comes that the Holy Mass is again driven underground, I beg you...I BEG you...you must continue the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass privately. Even if no person may be able to attend for fear of the danger involved, the Holy Mass MUST continue on the earth - for without it the earth would cease to exist! This is one of God's gifts to His church so that the gates of hell would never prevail against it, the fact that the laity is not required to be in attendance at the Holy Mass for the Holy Sacrifice to take place. You will do us better service to continue the Holy Mass even if we cannot attend for fear of danger than by having it not performed at all. Do the Holy Mass at the Hour of Mercy, 3 pm if possible, thus also guaranteeing the perpetual sacrifice throughout the world. 

The ones in our pews now that use birth control, the I.U.D, and are not faithful to the Magisterium, when the time comes for the hardest of persecution, they will drop their faith like they picked up a hot pan. Thinking they are right above God, they will "pray" for us in our misguided desire to click to the "old" faith and not keep up with "science and the times.". I tell you these are the ones that are more lost than any protestant that never new the faith. Because they were given the Catholic faith, and all of our tools to seek and to know the truth. One rosary a day would have saved them...so little, yet many will not do this one prayer and thus be lost. 

While the Priests will be doing the Holy Mass for salvation of the world, we the remnant must know our faith so that we can teach others. The priest that is in hiding will have to focus on the Holy Mass and the Sacraments, it will be up to us to teach the faith and bring souls into the church. Learn your faith NOW, know it well, and evangelize it NOW teach your children the faith NOW, this will be the training ground for what must come later. 

St. Joseph...Immaculate.

Was St. Joseph free from original sin? Yes, I do believe he was.  This is only logical.  Since Mary was immaculate at her birth, and Jesus was of course free from all sin as He was God, why would God put in place a husband, stepfather, and protector of the Virgin Mary and Jesus that carried original sin? This doesn't make sense.  That which stained by sin does not oversee and protect the pure, therefore at some point Joseph must have been immaculate also. St. Joseph was not just the member of the Holy family, but he led the holy family, and what we forget is that while Joseph lived, Mary and her son Jesus were obedient to him.  As God is never subject to sin, then logically St. Joseph was immaculate also.

The only question is when? When did God make Joseph immaculate.  I don't think at birth, because I feel strongly that he had a family and was a widower when he was chosen to be with Mary.  So not at birth, but later...but when? Perhaps, as God is very efficient, and usually when God moves, it is for more than one purpose, I wonder if when the lily grew out of the rod that Joseph held* it was not to just let it be known that he was the chosen one for Mary, but at that moment, he was given the grace of being immaculate to carry out this task.

We do not just have a Holy Family, we have an Immaculate One...

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*Legend: in choosing a husband for Mary, among several suitors it was St. Joseph's rod that sprouted a lily and a dove rested on it.

Suffering that Cannot be Spoken

How great the suffering in Hell of the mother who at death is unrepentant for aborting her child, yet how much greater, even hundreds of thousands times greater is her suffering in Hell if she has aborted a Priest, Bishop or Prince of the Church!

The Hail Mary Prayer Honors God

Audio of this Blog - Click HERE

Honoring the Virgin Mary by praying the Hail Mary is like praising God's choice for our Blessed Mother. 

Mary never points to herself - she only asked one question and all her other words were pointing to God or Jesus. The honors that God has bestowed on Mary are not Honors that she sought or even asked for. They are honors that God gave to Mary for her humility and obedience to God. God made her Queen of Heaven, and when we proclaim our mother Mary also the Queen of Heaven we are also proclaiming God's goodness in His choice of Mary as the Arc of the Covenant and the first "yes" of our salvation. This is why when we say a Hail Mary, we are not doing any disservice to God the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit, but by every Hail Mary we give praise to the most Blessed Trinity's choice of our Holy Mother.

The Biggest Heart of All

St. John Vianney - Saint of the Confessional

Audio of Blogpost

I think that God gives His priests the biggest hearts.  Because in the confessional we are each given a little piece of that heart of a priest.  After how many thousands of confessions over a lifetime, each one taking a little piece of their hearts, yet the heart still beats and continues in love to give to the next one to come into the confessional.  The heart of a Priest is not diminished by this giving of itself, for each penitent receives the same measure of the heart that reflects God's own heart for the soul seeking absolution. 

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What St. John Vianney said about the importance of confession - click HERE

Here is an Audio of the same link above - AUDIO OF ST. JOHN VIANNEY ON CONFESSIONAL

Communion on the Tongue..think about it!

Audio of this Blog - Click Here.

When we take Holy Communion (note the word "Holy") - do we think about what we are doing? Do we prepare for the most important act we can ever do in our entire lives? Yes, I said the MOST important act you can ever do in your entire life, greater than any stature you may attain or any choices that you make in life.   You are taking into yourself, the Body, (Not bread - it is no longer bread, it is our Lord Jesus in the hidden form - but no less real.) Why do the Eucharistic miracles find the heart muscle when the Eucharist is examined? (See link at bottom of posting). Are we not taking His very heart into ourselves?  It is His Blood - his true and real blood that He shed for love for us and now we take at Holy Mass.  His soul...wow, that one gets me.  A touching of His soul with ours which fail Him in so many ways, what love is this!  And finally His Divinity... Stop...Repeat these words, "His...Divinity."  Are you not taking the second person of the most Blessed Trinity into yourself?

If we understood the gravity of just one small sin (not even mortal sin) that it should rightly condemn us to Hell for offending such a good and gracious God we would understand the breadth of God's mercy and His love for us.  "What is man that God is mindful of him?" Psalm 8:4.  And yet we who are sinners take our God into ourselves each time at Holy Mass.

I'm not telling you to take Holy Communion on the tongue, nor am I telling you it is wrong to take it in the hand.  I am just asking you to think about what you are doing.  What is the last thing we do at Holy Mass before we go up to receive the Holy Eucharist? We shake hands, the sign of peace, which is great.  But now you have to ask yourself, is my hand clean enough to take the Holy God into it? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, you don't really know. In the end this is a personal matter between us and our Lord.  All I'm saying is think about it, pray about it, ask the Lord what He wishes you to do. By all means do not let anything I say prevent you from receiving the Eucharist!  Come and receive our Lord in the Eucharist by all means, preferably after a good confession. 

Please read about the Eucharist miracle and what science discovered about what you take into your hand next time at Holy Mass.Eucharistic Miracle = Heart of Jesus

"Wherefore, my dearly beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but much more now in my absence, with fear and trembling work out your salvation."

Giving Thanks to a Priest

Our priest, Father Eric Augenstein will be leaving us soon, this is our last Christmas that we will celebrate with him.  I am finding it difficult to convey what I am feeling at this time.  First I am happy that the will of God is being done, for His will is always perfect.  Although I am sad at Fr. Eric's leaving, I know this is selfish so I will turn these feelings to prayer of protection for him and for what he must do in the days ahead. 

How can I thank you, you gave me everything I ever wanted.  You gave me the Holy Mass, the pearl of great price.  One day in the confessional you gave me the foreshadow of  heaven.  I told Father I loved the Holy Mass and I asked him if there was Mass in heaven, and he said, "Mass IS heaven." I was overwhelmed with joy and hope!  As I walked out of the confessional I turned to him and said, "Thank you Father, you made my day...twice." (I had just gotten the sacrament of reconciliation!) 

How do you thank a priest that does the Holy Mass with such reverence and when he sings the Holy Mass, the love of God pours down in sheets.  Can you know the demons that have run during the Holy Mass when you have held our precious Lord aloft and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God..." You may not, but I do.  St. John Vianney was right, if a priest knew what he was he would die. 

I will miss your smile while you are baptizing or blessing children.  It is a beautiful smile, please don't ever change it.  I truly believe you will get more with that smile than with any argument.  I wonder how your Mother said no to you for anything.  

I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me all I lacked in serving you.  What I could not do for you with my hands, I did with my prayers for you which will always continue.  You have a beautiful heart Father, and you are a good and Holy Priest, and if God lets me, I hope to tell you how I know that.  

May God Bless you Always,

Adele

Ghosts, Psychics and Demons

A demons whole job is to trick you.  There whole existence is to deceive you into breaking the law of God and being with them in all eternity in Hell and Damnation.  We, as children of God need to be "wise as serpents and gentle as doves."  As such we must ALWAYS be on the lookout for the demons deceptions, for the evil one never sleeps. 

When we die, there is the judgement.  We are taken before the throne of God and our life is presented to our Lord, our good and our bad.  And as we have served in life, so shall we serve after death.  For God is always good, and out of His love for us He will give us our hearts desires, so if our heart is evil then hell and the devil shall be our reward.  And if our hearts desire has been God and His goodness in our life, Our God, the Creator of the Universe shall be our reward.  For eye has not seen nor the mind perceived what God has in store for those that truly love Him.

There are a lot of shows now on ghosts, ghost hunters and "psychic" mediums who speak to those who have passed on.  DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM!  "No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or one who casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead. For who does these things is abhorrent to the Lord..."  Deuteronomy 18:10-12. 

If we want to see how the demon will try to deceive us, all we have to do is look up "abhorrent to the Lord, abomination to the Lord, in the Bible and we will see what the demon is trying to entice us to do.  There are those who will call evil good when they know it will separate us from God, which is their main job.  We forget that the evil one knows the law of God better than any of us and he will do anything, ANYTHING to separate us from God.

So when you hear "evp"s that supposedly have spirits speaking or hear a "psychic" medium speak words from the dead we must first ask two questions.  1. Who are you really speaking to?  Remember the demons whole job is to DECEIVE YOU into doing what is not right in the sight of God.  To that end, demons will LIE to you. So who is speaking through a psychic or in the evp? Most of the time they are demons or demonized humans (humans condemned to hell that seek to wish nothing more than that you be in hell with them.) 

How they know.

So what if what the psychic says is correct? What if they have information that no one else could have?  Let me explain to you how this works.  We are surrounded by minions of the evil one seeking our destruction.  They have information about our lives and activities in the past.  Demons are intelligent beings and can communicate with one another.  So they have all of the past information about loved ones and they can speak through "mediums" and "psychics". So who you are speaking to is a demon, never doubt that.  Why would a demon give you information that you find comforting? They don't care how you feel, they just care that you have offended God and they will say and do anything to get you to sin against Him.  So if they can tell you how poor Uncle Joe who has passed on liked to play baseball and was left handed - this is information available to the demon that "shadowed" (no pun intended) Uncle Joe in his life. Remember, demons have no obligation to speak the truth but don't think they wont use the truth if it suits their ends - your destruction.   There is no verifiable way to identify who or what a spirit is. 

The Safest Course

The safest course is to not offend God and to not follow after psychics and ghost hunters and don't watch their programs either.  God in His goodness gives us so many tools to push evil from our lives, the Holy Mass, Confession, The Rosary, the list goes on.  Seek the company of the Saints and Our Lady instead of spirits because you don't know who are what they may be.

Desires of God's Heart

Can we know the heart and mind of God? Yes.  He has given us so much to show His heart.  We have His word, and upon reading the Holy Word of God, if we just read what God says through His prophets, we see the love of God expressed, but we also see a desire of God to be with His creation.  


He walked with us in the garden of Eden, then He visited Abraham in a physical form, but we can almost feel that He wishes more.  So as we read the Word we see the desire of God's heart to be with us.  Not just walk with us, but to "dwell within us."   This is the highest desire of God is to dwell within the heart of those that love Him and seek Him.  For a heart that can have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within it is a heart that has to be purified before God can enter, for God cannot come into anything impure or corrupt.  What great joy God knows when he dwells within a heart that has been purified and strives after His own heart!  For if that soul will persevere in seeking after God all of it's days, then that soul can know the greatest joy that cannot be obtained on the earth.  God can give such ecstasies of His love for a soul, but the greatest thing, for both, the small soul and the Almighty God is when that soul has fought the good fight and ended its journey with the greatest destination: TO SEE GOD IN THE FACE. 


Our Mother, the Virgin Mary was the first to experience this as the Holy Spirit overshadowed her.  What joy God knew at her holy obedience and humility, that the desires of His heart could be expressed through His Son, Jesus.  She became Israel, and as He overshadowed her, he brought forth from her greater heirs than he gave Abraham.  For if He gave Abraham physical heirs, which is limited to the physical. (Physical occupies time and space) from Mary He gave through Jesus the gift of the Holy Spirit which not only creates children of God. ("He whom obeys my Father in heaven is my brother and sister...") that have physical bodies but also, each soul that professes the Christ can have the indwelling of God, the Holy Spirit within them, thus giving God His desire to... dwell with us.


Beloved Trinity... I love you. 

On the Desires of the Sacred Heart

When we know a desire of our Lord's Sacred Heart, and it involves the sanctity of another, out of love for that Sacred Heart, we must seek to do much penance and sacrifice so that the desire of Our Blessed Lord should be fulfilled. God needs nothing from us, but is God not moved by a heart that loves Him so that much that much his offered in the way of sacrifice so that another may become sanctified? What joy there is to see the Sacred Heart happy and fulfilled by its desire!

Silence Speaks Volumes

St. Joseph 

Pray for us!

If we all could be more like St. Joseph.  What a strong man that God chose to be a protector of the Virgin Mary and Jesus!  Strong, wise, and steeped in love for God.  

If we could all have the faith of St. Joseph, we would all be saints.  

Many called by God before the time of St. Joseph questioned God.  Moses questioned God on how he would speak, Abraham questioned God about the lack of an heir. 


When did Joseph question about what God was asking him to do?  Never. We have no words from St. Joseph in scripture.  


We have to remember that even our Blessed Mother questioned the Angel Gabriel how she could have a child if she did not know man.  (Luke 1:34) 


I think this silence speaks volumes.  He dreamed dreams, which were instructions from God's messengers that told him what to do and where to go.  St. Joseph in his faith and humility, receives the message, has absolute faith that it is from God, and then acts.  He responded to dreams 3 times, and 3 times he did not ask God any questions, he just obeyed.  

The Dreams...

1.  The Incarnation:  Matthew 1:18-24
..."When Joseph awoke he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home." Matthew 1:24 
2. The flight into Egypt:  Matthew 2:13-15
 "Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. "
3. The Return to Egypt: Matthew 2:19-23.
"...behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt....."He rose, took the child and His mother and went to the land of Israel." 




I think we skip over these scriptures in the bible without really thinking about them.  The dreams = miraculous, but St. Joseph's reaction shows why he is a saint.  


He did not question the dream, the message, his task, or what was to come as a result of his obedience.  I think we all go down the road of ..."But Lord what if such and such happens.." or... "Lord, are you SURE about this?".....Joseph didn't. 


Think about that.  If anyone had a right to question God it would have been Joseph. (God was giving him the biggest protection job ever!)


We must remember that God sent a carpenter into a desert (not too many trees...) with no job, no home, and no contacts, but yet, even with all these obstacles, Joseph didn't question God, he just....  "Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. 

We need to trust in God more like this...

St. Joseph, dreamer of dreams...teach me obedience. 

Ok...thanks for the Laugh... you can repent now..

David Cameron was speaking yesterday at a London summit on family planning organised by Melinda Gates, wife of Microsoft tycoon Bill. Mr Cameron was asked by a member of the audience how to put pressure on the Holy See to overcome its opposition to contraception.


He said: "The answer lies in the strength of our arguments." 


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Ha Ha Ha!!! 

Good luck with that!! The 'strength of your arguments'? Are you kidding!  The Church has stood since 33 A.D., we have withstood: War, Heretics, (lots of heretics), Our Popes being martyred, persecution of the church, invasion, and occupation.  (I'm probably missing some stuff) And Pope Benedict, as the VICAR OF CHRIST, defender of the faith is going to be persuaded by your 'argument'... HA HA HA HA...!! 


Please go see the Holy Father and give him your arguments... I beg a yankee dollar, after you left such a holy person that is so close to your savior YOUR outlook would be changed.


So thanks for the laugh, but in all seriousness I want to say that I would be one of the first to rejoice in your repentance and coming back to the truth of Christ's church. 

Beyond Forgiveness... a Challenge.

In the session on Administering Justice the last woman to speak has stayed with me.  She was obviously hurting and struggling with forgiveness.  I think we all struggle with forgiveness, that is why we are human.  

I have no doubt, that to forgive on our own, there is probably a mathematical formula of forgiveness:  a ratio of the offense committed against you in relation to the time it takes you to forgive that person.  Smaller offenses have a shorter time to forgiveness compared to larger, more heinous crimes.  But when the offense is great and would require an infinite measure of time to forgive, that is the time needed to forgive would be longer than we can live, then this is when our Lord gives us the grace to forgive.  

But we must forgive.  Our Lord tells us we must, isn't this what we say in the prayer Our Father? "...forgive US our trespasses AS WE FORGIVE those who trespass against us."  I beg you to take this seriously.  We are forgiven AS we forgive...we cannot forget that.  And if our small heart does not have the capacity to forgive, will not a God who loves us give us the ability to forgive so that not only we but the one who has done us wrong may be with Him?  

But I tell you the truth, we must go beyond even forgiveness.  For He also said to "pray for those who persecute you..."  So pray for those who do you evil.  For by such prayer you are saying to God, "I love you, and I love you so much I don't want a soul that YOU love to be lost, even if he/she has done me wrong."  

How to pray for them?  As in the last message of Fatima: "Penance, Penance, Penance!" We must be willing to do Penance for those who do us evil, also as a gift of love to God.  

So pray, do penance and offer sacrifice for souls that are lost, for God does not wish them to be lost...

Prayer:

"Jesus it is love for you, love for your Sacred Heart, love for the Immaculate Heart of Mary, that I offer this penance for the souls that you love, especially those in danger of hell-fire and I beg the conversion of sinners." 

Battling the Demon...

Battling the Demon.

Jesus tells us that the demon is the prince of this world. And the battle with the evil one is a constant struggle.  For if we didn't have God to withhold the devil doing evil to us the tortures we would endure by the devil  would be UNIMAGINABLE.

There is two types of torture that the demon can deliver, torture of the flesh and torture of the spirit.
Those that were already bound for hell would be killed first, for the demon already has a firm claim on their souls.  Those souls that are bound for heaven or purgatory, would be tortured in the flesh and in the spirit to such a degree that they could not bear it. Without God's intervention souls that would endure this suffering at the devils hands would deny God in order to alleviate their suffering.  

Saints were burned at the stake, and tortured horribly before death, but NEVER denied God.  God allowed this suffering, for the good of their souls or the souls of others. This is a mystery which we, cannot comprehend.  But God alone is the final judge on when life and suffering ends.

Think about this.  Right now God Himself is holding back the devil from inflicting the evil upon your head that he so desires to give you. As you go about your tasks everyday the love of God surrounds every heartbeat and breath, protecting you from the evil one and guiding you on the path to Him.  From conception to natural death, we are under the love and will of God and life should not be prevented or ended by any means other then what God wills for it. 

Engaging the Demon.

But are we actively engaged in the fight against the evil one?  Do we realize that souls go to hell daily and what we, as Christians, can do to assist our lost brethren to keep them from hell and lead them to God?

Prayer, fasting, penance, sacrifice.

For if we truly love God, then we love those that He loves, which is all the souls on the earth, including those that are the farthest from HIM.  Atheists, Satan worshipers, those that do you evil... ALL.

For if we make an oblation of a heart that loves God, how can God deny a heart that loves Him so?  Such a  heart that beats only for Him will do much prayer, fasting and penance for those souls that God loves and desires not to be lost.  The farther a soul is from God the more right it has to God's mercy. 

So are we participating in daily sacrifice that leads souls to God?

For "Amen Amen I say to you that no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him."  John 13.16. 

So engage the demon, pray, fast, do penance for souls that are lost to God, and let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing.  For as St. John Vianney says, "Oh, how I like those little mortifications that are seen by nobody...

Mother Knows

Know what our Holy Mother knows:

For it is in humilty and lowness that the battle against the evil one is raged.... and won. 

Fear Not.

At first it is fearful to engage the evil one, but as time progresses, as you continue in your prayer, purification and penance, you will realize that the demon, no matter how he shows himself to distract you from your task for souls, is nothing but a gnat that unfortunately must be endured while in the flesh.

An Important Point.

One cannot battle the evil one for souls if he himself is "tepping" (associating) with the devil.  First go to confession, with a firm resolve to change your life in line with the teachings of the Church, otherwise you are encamped with the evil one and useless in this battle.  You must pick sides, are you with the devil or the King of Kings?

This is no joke.  Jesus's sacrifice was not a lark.  He looks at you and says, "Choose."  You cannot go to Holy Mass on Sunday and be disobedient or steal, or take into yourselves that which is unholy.  (Every really listen to what is said on some of those t.v. programs?). For obedience is the path to God.

Only purified souls can take up the standard of the Lord to battle the evil one.  Purify yourselves and join the fight!  Souls fall into hell every day and they ARE worth fighting for!

Purify your soul steps: 

1. Confession with resolve to change your life in line with the teachings of the Church.  And go to confession weekly. (Who can say they are totally sinless for a whole month? Not I.)

2. Holy Mass.  The best defense against the devil is the Holy Mass daily, for it is difficult to take up this standard without the Holy Eucharist daily.  The Holy Mass is the strongest weapon against the evil one and since the evil one does not sleep we should arm ourselves DAILY with the Holy Eucharist.

3. Being obedient to those that are over you, even in the littlest things.  For obedience is the path to God.

4. Expelling from your life what is not of God and taking in what is of God, scripture daily, holy books, life of the saints, etc.

5.  Rosary daily... preverably ALL mysteries if possible.

6. Humility.  Submit in humility to God in all things.  Pray the Litany of Humility daily if needed.

If you do the above, be prepared for what God will show you, for your eyes will be opened.

An offering prayer for souls:

Jesus it is love for you, love for your Sacred Heart, love for the Immaculate heart of Mary that I offer this (say offering - rosary, penance, etc) for the souls that you love, especially those that are in most danger of hellfire, and I beg the conversion of sinners.

The "Brave" Bench...

At my Church, OLPH, there is a bench in the vestibule where the confessional is.  Usually about every week, you see almost the same people, and if you don't see them that week, it is assured you will see them in a week or two.

You exchange names, what time you go to Holy Mass, stuff like that, nothing real personal.

Thankfully it isn't like when you are in elementary school and are sent to the princpals office.  You sit on that bench, waiting for your 'turn' and usually you are not alone either.  I remember in grade school you would turn to your companion on the bench and say... "Watcha do?"

Someone at church called the bench outside the Confessional the "Naughty Bench".  We all chuckled, but I think that is wrong.  I think it should be called the "Brave Bench."  

We all sin, and it is a self-inflicted illness of the soul, then why do we not use the remedy the Christ gives to us? Ergo: The Confessional.

Fear... that is why.  Fear of admitting to the sin and telling it to a Priest.  What are you afraid of?  You can't shock a Priest, and in truth you are really confessing your sins to Jesus.  If you confess something you find embarassing, the Priest is NOT going to say... "You did WHAT?!" (Thank God!).  And if you have ever been to confession more than once, you learn real quick to never play poker with a priest.  They have the best poker faces ever.

But if you look close in their eyes while you are confessing your sins, you will also see an unending compassion as you must imagine Christ has for us.

And the fact is that the longer you put off the Confessional, the more damage you do to your conscience and the harder it is to get back to the confessional.

The persistent presence of sins that has not been, confessed, absolved and remitted with penance (much penance... trust me) take the soul into a downward spiral of more sin and the rationalization of that sin.  Such so that greater sins seem more appealing, and even good in the light of our own wants and desires.  And when we seek our own wants and desires over God we break the First Commandment.

Jesus has given us a remedy for our continual illness of sin.  The Confessional.  It is a sacrament of love and a desire of all of His children to be reconcilled to Him.

So the bench outside the vestible isn't the "Naughty Bench".  It's the "Brave Bench".

Be brave...Go to confession.


P.S.:

"All sins are 'gateway' sins.  Slam the gate... go to Confession."

Most adorable Trinity, unfathomable Trinity, we come so close to perceiving your most glorious mystery and your  love in the Most Holy Mass when Triune love so infinite, so overwhelming rains down.   How can one who is finite be unchanged then we take into ourselves that which is infinite?  Eternally loving, Eternally Merciful, my God my all, I love you.